The Romans had the Baths of Caracalla, we have Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Baths Vals. Built into the hillside of Graubünden, Switzerland, the quarry-like spa was named a national monument two years after its completion in 1996 (talk about fast-tracked). Let's go there—now.

When the town of Vals, a canton of Graubünden, hired Zumthor to design their thermal baths, he was an undiscovered talent with experience in conservation architecture. The project put the architect and the baths on the map. Zumthor achieved cult status (he won the Pritzker Prize in 2009), and the baths became a mecca for architects around the world. Zumthor used his knowledge of rustic building materials to create a tactile and sensory series of modern spaces organized around the primal ritual of bathing, and the results are pure poetry in space.

Above: The building is organized around a series of cubic volumes that hold baths of different temperatures, showers, and places for sweating, drinking, and resting. Photograph via StudioEm.

Above: Swimming in the water brings the bather from one cubic volume to another. After arriving in the central bath, the bather can move on to the outdoor bath and then to the outdoor swimming areas. Photograph via Architizer.

Above: Daylight filters in through slits open to the sky. Photograph via Velux Stiftung.

Above: The outdoor bath, with a green roof, emerges out of the hillside. Photograph via ArqPres. For more information on the baths, go to Therme 7132.